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Pirate Bay found guilty

Well, I don’t really know what I expected to happen – but I’m still pretty shocked by the fact that Pirate Bay (a file sharing site) has been found guilty. The four co-founders have been sentenced to a fine of £2.4 million and a year in jail each. Actual jail. Of course the defendants plan to appeal, which will probably drag on for ages, but the whole thing seems pretty crazy.

Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi had this to say over Twitter:

“Stay calm – nothing will happen to TPB, us personally or filesharing what so ever. This is just a theatre for the media.”

“Really, it’s a bit LOL. It used to be only movies, now even verdicts are out before the official release.”

He hit the nail on the head quite nicely there. I don’t really know what my position is on filesharing. I like having physical things most of the time – but I’m also happy to pay way more for gig tickets these days seeing as I’ll listen to music my friends pass on to me without a second thought. Not so sure how I’ll feel about it if e-books continue to grow in popularity though.

On the other hand, with the rebellious attitude he and his friends sported throughout the trail, I can’t help thinking that Peter may have been courting that self same media to some extent.